239 results about "Internet shopping" patented technology

According the present invention, there is provided a method and system for facilitating an electronic commerce (e-commerce) transaction by a consumer, the method comprising: acquiring a purchase amount for an e-commerce transaction between a consumer and an Internet shopping portal; querying each of a plurality of consumer accounts for associated financial information; evaluating said associated financial information obtained for each of the plurality of consumer accounts; and facilitating a selection of one or more accounts based on the evaluation step to enable the consumer to complete the e-commerce transaction.

A method and system for interactively shopping for groceries, especially on an Internet web site, where the user may create a shopping list, shop for items from the list at a selected Grocery Storey store, arrange for pick up or delivery of the selected items and payment, or to download the list to a PDA or for printing with the store's layout for use in the store. Users are required to register and provide specific demographic information (useful to Manufacturers and stores) to be eligible to receive the benefits of use of the web site, such as menu creation, coupon downloads, menu planning, and recipe input. Shopping lists may be created from a single input screen using standard language text; and products may be automatically suggested to the user based on best regular price or retailer's specials. Recipes may be altered to meet numbers of servings or dietary requirements and changes stored for future use.

An electronic shopping system which utilizes an electronic shopping agent (ESA) for allowing communication between customers and retailers during Internet shopping. The ESA has access to a customer database and a retailer database. When a request for an item / service is received by the ESA from a customer, the customer profile information is retrieved from the customer database. Appropriate retailers are also selected from the retailer database. The customer profile information and customer request is bundled as a request for proposal (RFP) and forwarded to the selected retailers for servicing. The retailers, upon receipt of the RFP submit proposals to the ESA for forwarding to the requesting customer. The proposals are catered to the requesting customer's needs and preferences. The ESA may analyze the proposals and select the best proposal(s) prior to their forwarding to the requesting customer. The ESA may further provide market survey reports to the retailers based on information accumulated on the customers using the system.

Using a single source money management system customers may automate their committed spending. A money management account and a discretionary fund account are established in response to a customer's request to participate in the system. A financial institution receives money on a periodic basis from a customer's predictable payment system. The money is then deposited / transferred to the money management account, retained in the money management account as required for bill payment, and / or deposited / transferred into the discretionary fund account if it is “excess.” Bills are paid on a customer determined schedule directly from the money management account using the money retained in the money management account. A loan account may also be established in response to a customer's application for a loan account. A financial institution grants a loan for a loan purchase in response to a customer's application for a loan purchase. The system and / or the financial institution handles payment for the loan purchase and repayment of the loan from the loan account from the money management account. The present invention may include a secure internet shopping system that includes a vendor web system and a financial institution web system. Each vendor offers goods and / or services. The financial institution web system permits customer authorization of payment to a selected vendor.

A system having a client, a host server, a sponsor server, and a video server, which are all interconnected via the Internet and which operate seamlessly together in order to provide video content to an end user at the client and allow the end user at the client to purchase products and / or services from the sponsor that are featured in the video content provided by the video server. As the user views video content on his or her computer, images associated with segments of the content are periodically provided in conjunction with the video content. Each image contains an image map, which defines areas in the image. Each defined area is associated with a product which is displayed in that area of the image. Each defined area is also associated with an anchored hyperlink which links to web content from a sponsor server. The web content includes product information for that particular product featured in that area of the image. Accordingly, by selecting an item in the image, product information is retrieved from a sponsor server and provided to the user so he or she may purchase the product seen in the video content.Additionally, various user activities and interactions, including which videos are selected for viewing and which products are purchased, is tracked for several purposes. This tracking can be used to determine which videos and products are viewed and purchased more often, as well as for generating revenue sharing reports for purposes of profit sharing.

A method for real-time remote shopping using a real-time remote shopping system includes the steps of (a) obtaining the commodity information from a hand-held terminal and registering the information on a customer, (b) sending the shopping request information including the commodity information to a host server or a mobile terminal through the wired / wireless communication device, (c) receiving, at the mobile terminal, the shopping request information from the hand-held terminal or the host server, and sending the shopping data processed in real-time to the host server or the hand-held terminal, (d) receiving, at the hand-held terminal, the shopping data from the server or the hand-held terminal, and (e) sending, at the hand-held terminal, a shopping-ended signal to the host server or the hand-held terminal, and paying the price. The hand-held terminal includes a hand-held electronic device of the customer. The system and method can be applied to an internet shopping.

A method and system for interactively shopping for groceries, especially on an Internet web site, where the user may create a shopping list, shop for items from the list at a selected Grocery Storey store, arrange for pick up or delivery of the selected items and payment, or to download the list to a PDA or for printing with the store's layout for use in the store. Users are required to register and provide specific demographic information (useful to Manufacturers and stores) to be eligible to receive the benefits of use of the web site, such as menu creation, coupon downloads, menu planning, and recipe input. Shopping lists may be created from a single input screen using standard language text; and products may be automatically suggested to the user based on best regular price or retailer's specials. Recipes may be altered to meet numbers of servings or dietary requirements and changes stored for future use.

A voice-enabled system for online shopping provides a voice and telephony interface, as well a text and graphic interface, for shopping over the Internet using a browser or a telephone. The system allows customers to access an online shop, search for desired database items, select items, and finally pay for selected items using a credit card, over a phone line or the Internet. A telephony-Internet interface converts spoken queries into electronic commands for transmission to an online shop or database. Markup language-type pages transmitted to callers from the online-shop or database are parsed to extract selected information. The selected information is then reported to the callers via audio messaging.

There is provided a system and method for user interfaces to navigate online shopping circulars. There is provided a method comprising retrieving circular data, presenting the circular data arranged by sorting parameters, receiving a request to obtain a product, and initiating a transaction for the requested product with a retailer. The sorting parameters may include parameters such as retailer bids for enhanced visibility, thereby providing increased monetization opportunities. The sorting parameters may also include flexible preset or user defined filtering options, allowing users to enjoy an engaging and streamlined shopping experience. The online shopping circulars may be implemented as a module for online media content, such as a news site or an entertainment portal.

Using a single source money management system customers may automate their committed spending. A money management account and a discretionary fund account are established in response to a customer's request to participate in the system. A financial institution receives money on a periodic basis from a customer's predictable payment system. The money is then deposited / transferred to the money management account, retained in the money management account as required for bill payment, and / or deposited / transferred into the discretionary fund account if it is “excess.” Bills are paid on a customer determined schedule directly from the money management account using the money retained in the money management account. A loan account may also be established in response to a customer's application for a loan account. A financial institution grants a loan for a loan purchase in response to a customer's application for a loan purchase. The system and / or the financial institution handles payment for the loan purchase and repayment of the loan from the loan account from the money management account. The present invention may include a secure internet shopping system that includes a vendor web system and a financial institution web system. Each vendor offers goods and / or services. The financial institution web system permits customer authorization of payment to a selected vendor.

The invention is a new generation of system of payments, designed for the millions of customers around the world who are victims of identity theft and fraud with credit card; because it is anonymous, prepaid, disposable, non-reloadable, non-refundable, and easy to doing any purchase online, telephone, mail or retailer. The invention has both features such as 1) is a prepaid debit card (expiration date& security code) and 2) is a prepaid phone card (PIN), with an amount assigned on every account / card, which is exhausted when the cash amount is expended and works with the same physical characteristics, electronic and financial mechanisms of a debit card as they do major credit cards, are an open loop. It is distributed by retailers (plastic card) or Internet (virtual account) and must be pre-activated for use after purchased.

A method and system for providing international consumers without bank accounts, or recognizable addresses the ability to shop and purchase goods in a language and currency recognized by the consumer with foreknowledge of the full landed costs to remote locations.

The invention discloses a data mining based customer recommendation system and a method of the same, wherein the system comprises a data preparation part and a real-time recommendation part. The data preparation part comprises a source data extracting module, an order data extracting module, a calculation model module, a similar customer calculation model module. The real-time recommendation part comprises a recommendation result generating and displaying module. The method comprises the following steps of: preparing the source data and extracting the corresponding data items, building a customer-commodity calculation model, calculating the similar customer sets of each customer, recommending the commodities the similar customers purchased to the customer. Thus, the customers are catered for, an intelligent online purchasing guide function is provided, the online purchasing feelings of users are improved, and the profits of commercial websites therefore are maximized.

This invention relates to the electronic commerce area and more particularly the b2b2c (business to business to consumer) segment. A system and method is provided which offers to online retailers (brick & mortar and pureplay) as well as manufacturers, a physical point of sales to promote & sell their products and services. This system and method will allow for a variety of business transactions: information collection and processing, product returns, sales of goods, sales of electronic information and other internet related services.

The invention provides a personalized recommendation method and device of characteristic information, wherein the personalized recommendation method comprises the following steps of: receiving a characteristic information acquisition request submitted by a client, wherein the characteristic information acquisition request includes a user identification; acquiring user behavior tendency information according to the user identification; extracting current associated characteristic information according to a preset rule by using the user behavior tendency information; extracting current associated characteristic information which meets preset requirements and returning the extracted current associated characteristic information to the client. According to the invention, various personalized needs of users can be met, online shopping time cost of users is reduced and purchasing conversion rate of electronic commerce is increased.

Using a single source money management system customers may automate their committed spending. A money management account and a discretionary fund account are established in response to a customer's request to participate in the system. A financial institution receives money on a periodic basis from a customer's predictable payment system. The money is then deposited / transferred to the money management account, retained in the money management account as required for bill payment, and / or deposited / transferred into the discretionary fund account if it is “excess.” Bills are paid on a customer determined schedule directly from the money management account using the money retained in the money management account. A loan account may also be established in response to a customer's application for a loan account. A financial institution grants a loan for a loan purchase in response to a customer's application for a loan purchase. The system and / or the financial institution handles payment for the loan purchase and repayment of the loan from the loan account from the money management account. The present invention may include a secure internet shopping system that includes a vendor web system and a financial institution web system. Each vendor offers goods and / or services. The financial institution web system permits customer authorization of payment to a selected vendor.

The invention discloses an intelligent sales terminal with an online shopping function, a sales system and a method. Disclosed by the invention is an intelligent safe sales terminal, a sales system and an implementation method which are based on network technologies, not only can carry out shopping on a local sales terminal, but also can order goods through the network. The intelligent sales terminal comprises a microprocessor, a man-machine interface module, a storage device, a network communication interface and a local communication interface, wherein the man-machine interface module, the storage device, the network communication interface and the local communication interface are connected with the microprocessor; and the man-machine interface module comprises a display screen and a device used for data input. The sales system comprises the intelligent sales terminal and a remote shopping website. The sales system also can comprise an automatic replenishment system and a remote server. The intelligent sales terminal with the online shopping function, the sales system and the method are easy to implement and can provide great convenience for shopping of customers.

The invention relates to a direct broadcasting method and system with a shopping module embedded in a direct broadcasting room. The method includes: in the direct broadcasting room, an anchor brings specific articles online, and each anchor selects required article content with the combination of the current direct broadcasting scene; and the system presents the display special effect of the articles in direct broadcasting room audience terminals according to the article types, and the articles and the direct broadcasting content are associated. An embedded playing window mode is loaded, the embedded playing window mode comprises a video display area and an article purchase area, and the connection of two services is accomplished through real-time interaction. The problem of connection of two services of network video direct broadcasting and online shopping is solved. The problem that in the direct broadcasting process, a pop-up is abrupt and cannot be associated with direct broadcasting content, and the user experience is poor is also avoided. According to characteristics of the method and system, users can watch the live broadcast and accomplish all operations of shopping on one interface, and the conventional service jumping mode is avoided.

The present invention is a method and system for conducting electronic commerce which allows a customer to place an item on hold online, in the customer's shopping cart, and changing the status of the item to temporarily unavailable, so that users other than the customer may view the item, but may not purchase the item unless it is made available again, either at the end of a defined time period or because the customer decides to take the item out of their shopping cart. This is a desirable feature for items that are unique, one-of-a-kind, or of limited availability.

A system, method and program of the invention enables a client in a network of computers to participate with a plurality of merchants across several Web servers in electronic transactions for the purchase of products from the merchants. The client is enabled to make one transaction with one merchant dependent upon the results of another transaction with another merchant. More specifically, each item that is available from any merchant and is selected by a customer using the client is represented at the client as a separate object having states associated therewith. A buy, hold, or conditional state will set a lock on the corresponding object at the Web server such that no other transactions with other customers can take place for that specific item while the current customer is actively using it. A conditional state sends a signal to the merchant to assist in contacting another merchant in order to cancel a previous transaction that the other merchant had with the current customer.

A product evaluation system for permitting a consumer to obtain information about an item of interest. The system includes a core engine processor and an item pricing module. The core engine processor is capable of receiving a communication from the consumer's mobile phone. The core engine processor constructs a query for the item of interest. The item pricing module obtains at least price information for the item of interest by querying at least one Internet site. The obtained information may be conveyed to the consumer by voice, text message, and / or later access via the Internet. The item of interest may be identified by the consumer submitting bar code indicia or by answering a series of questions posed by the system. Further, the consumer may submit additional information in regard to the item of interest which will be stored by the core engine processor and is capable of later being retrieved by the consumer. In particular, the additional information as well as the information obtained by the product evaluation system may be conveyed to the user via a web page.

The Virtual Reality Shopping System and methods provides the means to extend to the Internet shopper the same shopping experience as being in the physical store. The system and methods of the Virtual Reality Shopping System Software builds upon commercially available software tools in the areas of multi-media and Internet shopping cart software. It uniquely combines the features of these tools and adds functions so to provide a Virtual Reality Shopping System that realistically conveys the physical store's intended atmosphere, environment, and customer's shopping experience, which uniquely brands that store.

A system and method for managing Internet shopping with an embedded shopping cart view are disclosed. A particular embodiment includes providing, by use of a data processor, a user interface to present a list of items to a user in a first display region; present a moveable virtual shopping cart in a second display region concurrently viewable with the first display region, the virtual shopping cart being moveable within the first display region; enable a user to add items from the list of items by drag / drop or click into the virtual shopping cart; and display a summary of items placed in the virtual shopping cart.

A system and method for effectuating Electronic Funds Transfer credit messages. The main structural components of the system include a Payment Portal Processor (PPP), an Internet Pay Anyone (IPA) Account, a Virtual Private Lockbox (VPL) and an associated Account. Reporter, the existing EFT networks, and a cash card for accessing a VPL or IP account. The PPP is a software application that provides a secure portal for accessing (linking to) either the user's Demand Deposit Account (DDA) or an IPA account and can be combined with the functionality of a traditional digital Wallet. Consumers use a PPP enhanced Wallet to fund their account, shop on the web, pay bills, pay anyone, store electronic receipts and transaction history, and check their recent PPP enhanced Wallet activity. The IPA account is a special purpose account with limited functionality for making electronic payments in the form of EFT credit messages. The VPL is a limited function receive only account for receiving electronic payments through the EFT. The Account Reporter is a portal to view transaction history and balance of IPA and VPL accounts, provide online, real-time transaction reports, and to reconciles accounts receivable / purchase records against incoming EFT payment records. A physical card can be associated with either an IPA or VPL account in order to provide PIN debit capability.

The invention discloses a method with a function of estimating pick-up time based on online ordering and an application of the method. The method comprises the following steps: calculating by calling the history order data of a merchant to calculate and obtain an estimated time duration T1 and an estimated error time duration R1 in this time of order processing; meanwhile, calculating by calling history order data in different periods of time to obtain an estimated time duration T2 and an estimated time duration error R2 in the processing of a period of time corresponding to this time of order processing; finally calculating the final estimated time duration T of this time of order processing, wherein T is equal to [(T1+ / -R1)+(T2+ / -R2)] / 2. The method has the advantages that the estimation method is simple and quick, and can be accurate to a minute, so that the application scenarios of online shopping transaction are greatly extended, and the method is particularly suitable for the condition that the merchant needs to manufacture goods or cook food products on site after payment in a near-field environment.

Using a single source money management system customers may automate their committed spending. A money management account and a discretionary fund account are established in response to a customer's request to participate in the system. A financial institution receives money on a periodic basis from a customer's predictable payment system. The money is then deposited / transferred to the money management account, retained in the money management account as required for bill payment, and / or deposited / transferred into the discretionary fund account if it is “excess.” Bills are paid on a customer determined schedule directly from the money management account using the money retained in the money management account. A loan account may also be established in response to a customer's application for a loan account. A financial institution grants a loan for a loan purchase in response to a customer's application for a loan purchase. The system and / or the financial institution handles payment for the loan purchase and repayment of the loan from the loan account from the money management account. The present invention may include a secure internet shopping system that includes a vendor web system and a financial institution web system. Each vendor offers goods and / or services. The financial institution web system permits customer authorization of payment to a selected vendor.

The present invention relates to a Net shopping method for performing Net shopping through the Internet with a portable terminal. The user freely makes product selections (Net shopping) at any time and place using a portable terminal 2. When the user proposes to conduct a transaction, transaction proposal information, payee information, and the amount of money are automatically sent from the Net shopping site to the portable terminal 2 and stored in the internal memory 22. Next, the user takes the portable terminal 2 to the automatic payment transfer device 4, connects the portable terminal to the payment transfer device 4, and transfers the internal data to the payment transfer device 4. The user can perform payment transfer operations with the payment transfer device 4 based on the order acceptance data. Thus the payment transfer process can be performed safely and with a simple operation.